At least 3.8 million Kenyans require relief food assistance because of persistent drought and high food prices, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on Friday.

WFP's announcement came as the World Food Day is being marked across the globe. The WFP said the rising number of hungry people has passed one billion worldwide.

WFP Kenya Country Director Burkard Oberle said the UN agency was struggling to raise the resources to feed all of those in need in Kenya because of drought and high food prices.

"We are at the same time working with the government, communities and other stakeholders to put in place projects that provide durable solutions to problems of food insecurity," Oberle said, according to a WFP statement issued in Nairobi.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said this week that severe food shortages continue to affect millions of hungry people in Kenya while refugees pour in from neighboring countries and UN agencies brace the population for expected floods.

The food insecurity, largely due to prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa region, has made WFP put millions of people in Kenya on emergency food aid assistance, and another 1.5 million children on a school feeding programme.

According to OCHA, the availability of food over the next three months is expected to remain uncertain despite the forecast of heavy rains related to El Nino weather patterns.

The UN agency said it aims to enhance food security through projects such as Food for Assets -- working with communities to build water harvesting and irrigation projects.

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